With the end of the MLP regular season, the PPA Tour returns, moving to Tennessee for the Veolia Bristol Open beginning on Wednesday. All the stars will be in action, including Anna Leigh Waters, Ben Johns, Anna Bright, Federico Staksrud, and your other favorite players. The fans and the players should both be fired up for the return to PPA action, so expect great competition in all five events.

 

 

Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio will take the court as the top seed. They have a very favorable draw, so expect to see them in the finals. Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin are the two seed and they appear to have a good road to the semis, where they may well meet the new pairing of #3 JW Johnson and Andrei Daescu. The Johnson/Daescu pairing is super interesting as both are such strong left side players. I expect to see Daescu take the right side as he has a record of prior success there. The fourth seed is another new pairing of Collin Johns and James Delgado. They benefit in the seeding process from all the points Collin racked up playing with his brother, but I expect a fairly early exit for this team. Other intriguing pairs include #5 Dylan Frazier/Noe Khlif, #7 Riley Newman/Jay Devilliers, #9 Ross Whitaker/CJ Klinger, and #14 Augie Ge/Jack Sock.

 

 

The top seed is the power pair of Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright. As I had predicted when this pairing was first announced, I do not expect anything less than gold for this tandem in every tournament they enter. The question now being asked is whether anyone can even win one game in 2025 off this team? The #2 seed goes to the new and intriguing pair of Jorja Johnson and Rachel Rohrabacher. Both of these women have been playing very well lately, but both on the right side. Who will play left in Bristol? I would put Johnson on the left, as Rohrabacher’s backhand is a much better weapon when she is on the right side. The third seed goes to Jackie Kawamoto and Catherine Parenteau. They should be a tough defensive team. Beating them will require a lot of consistent offense, which happens if/when they face the #7 seed, Etta Tuionetoa/Tina Pisnik, in the quarterfinals. Tyra Black and Parris Todd get the #4 seed. They have a favorable draw, but they often make the error of playing Todd on the left. The pair is much more effective with Black on the left. A lower seed to watch out for is #10 Zoey Wang/Brooke Buckner, who have a favorable draw and could make a good run.

 

 

As expected, the top seed goes to Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters. They have a good draw, so expect to see them take their usual place in the finals. The second seed is Jorja and JW Johnson. They also have a favorable draw, so a rematch against Waters/Johns looks likely. Other high seeds include #3 Catherine Parenteau/Christian Alshon, #4 Anna Bright/Andrei Daescu, #5 Jessie Irvine/Gabe Tardio, and #6 Etta Tuionetoa/Federico Staksrud. For lower seeds who could pull some upsets, watch for #21 Mari Humberg/CJ Klinger and #24 Milan Rane/Connor Garnett. If the seeds go as expected, one really good match to see would be a semifinal of the Johnsons vs. Bright/Daescu.

 

 

Federico Staksrud is the top seed. He is facing a possible match against #5 Ben Johns in what would be a must see quarterfinal match. Staksrud looks likely to get there due to a favorable draw, but Johns has a tough first round match against the winner of #32 Max Freeman vs. #34 James Ignatowich. The second seed is Hunter Johnson, but he faces a difficult road all the way. His side of the draw includes a lot of tough opponents he would have to defeat, including #13 Zane Ford in the Round of 16, #7 Christian Alshon in the quarters, and #3 Connor Garnett in the semifinals. Lower seeds often make deep runs in men’s singles, more so than any other event. There are lots of double-digit seeds who could play well in this event, including #10 Jack Sock, #12 Gabe Tardio, #19 John Lucian Goins, and #36 Alex Crum. Look for a lot of upsets in this very difficult men’s singles event.

 

 

Anna Leigh Waters is sitting out singles in Bristol, which means the women’s singles gold is up for grabs. Kaitlyn Christian is the #1 seed, deservedly so, but she is no sure thing to win even her Round of 32 match. She is likely to play #25 Jalina Ingram, who is a very strong singles player. Christian also faces tough veterans on her side of the draw in #4 Lea Jansen, #6 Zoey Wang, and #7 Salome Devidze. On the other side of the draw, #2 Parris Todd leads the way. Her toughest match is likely to be against the winner of a quarterfinal between #3 Brooke Buckner and #5 Catherine Parenteau. For a low seed who could make a run, watch #30 Victoria DiMuzio.

 

 

The Veolia Bristol Open looks like a lot of chalk in the doubles events, but look for upsets to dominate in the two singles events.

 

Men’s doubles: Johns/Tardio defeat Daescu/Johnson

Women’s doubles: Waters/Bright defeat Black/Todd

Mixed doubles: Waters/Johns defeat the Johnsons

Men’s singles: Ben Johns over Jack Sock

Women’s singles: Brooke Buckner over Salome Devidze

 

Watch all the matches on Pickleballtv. There will be a lot of great play and I expect the pros to be fired up with the return of PPA play.

 

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